Why Mumbai Engineers Suck?

Note: Not all Mumbai engineers suck but most do! So don’t jump on the bandwagon of offended people by reading the title! Read the full story first :)

Hi, I’m a Computer Engineer from Mumbai. I graduated last year (June 2015) from K.C. College of Engineering which is affiliated to Mumbai University. You probably never heard about this college like most other Engineering colleges in Mumbai.

It’s a good college… and that exactly is the problem! Most Engineering colleges here in Mumbai are good and nothing more than that.

But that’s not the point. The point is about the quality of an Engineer who graduates from Mumbai University. And the quality is bad, really bad. So bad that most Engineers in Mumbai (and India) are unemployed.

Even that doesn’t paint the big picture. The big picture is — Most Engineering jobs here aren’t really Engineering jobs.

Now don’t be mad at me for saying that. Keep reading, I’ll explain. I’m just writing the stuff which we all know but we keep telling ourselves that we’re the best. We’re not. Some are… but majority of us suck at programming!

Yes I said programming! Because you know, it doesn’t matter if you’re from any other branch. Most of you end up getting an IT job, even if you’re from EXTC and ETRX.

And even that job isn’t really about programming. It’s donkey-work or labor. More on that later. But the point is everything sucks! (at least for an average Engineer).

The Ugly Recruitment Process

When you’re in your final year, your college placement group will try to get as many companies as possible in the college campus.

Most of these will offer a package as low as 10k to 20k rupees per month. And that’s okay. But the sad part is that in some colleges, people actually apply and compete for 10k/month.

Next, you’ll get an offer letter. Some companies take too long (months) to give you an offer letter. While some companies get you in ASAP but then spend some time training you on their technologies.

You see, you’re being trained for this job. And this is why it doesn’t matter if you’re an IT guy or ETRX guy. Anyone can do this job with the proper training. Even a 10th pass student can be trained to do their job.

You don’t need to be an Engineer to work in a service based company. Though that’s a plus!

Then there’s something called the Bench. If there isn’t work for you in the company, you’ll be asked to come to the office and do nothing. Sit idle. Some people (even my friends) spend a year doing nothing. This is gold by stupid standard.

Engineering job or drudgery?

The jobs in these service based companies are bad. You spend most of your time learning how to use a tool and then keep using it daily. You don’t actually do any development work here.

You slog hard and work from 9 to 5 or more. You stop growing in your career. You stop learning. You are sad on Mondays and happy on Fridays. You are either someone who saves too much or someone who is completely broke. There is no in between!

Your inputs don’t matter. You’re basically a slave among other slaves in this cubical system where labor intensive work is on demand.

And maybe most of us don’t mind doing labor work because that’s how most of our Engineering assignments are completed. If you know what I mean!

The Quality of Engineers in Mumbai

Mumbai makes plenty of Engineers every year. A LOT of them actually. This creates a huge demand for Engineering jobs.

To match this huge demand, plenty of Engineering jobs show up. But there’s a twist. These Engineering jobs aren’t really Engineering jobs.

So we have colleges churning out plenty of bad or so-so engineers and they’re doing jobs like form filling, etc… all under the umbrella of an “Engineering” role.

This affects Quality. It changes the definition of an Engineer. And it becomes difficult to identify an actual Engineer.

In contrast, Doctors are still heavily respected. The word “Doctor” actually has the right weight and value in Mumbai.

Engineering Education in Mumbai

I have seen people passing Computer Engineering course with distinction or first class but they’ve no idea about Computers, the Web or the Software Industry.

Forget about Computers, they’ve no idea how to program. Most have never built anything using their knowledge. Not a single app. Coding using Turbo C is all that they know!

Engineering exams are a joke. You can study for the exam a day before by analyzing the last 3 year question papers and you’ll pass! It’s that simple if you’re smart enough.

We need to change this! We need to #MakeEngineersGreatAgain. And that is exactly what this story is about — A rant with a positive message at the end.

How to !Suck?

If you made it this far and if you’re wondering “How to not suck?” then this part is exactly for you!

The first thing you need to do is get an internet connection. And the Internet is 90% NSFW. So it’s up to you to use it wisely. Avoid the distractions and use it to build yourself.

Spend time on learning and practicing code —

1. Learn Something
2. Apply it and Build Something using what you Learned
3. Repeat

What worked for me?

During my Engineering course — I started a blog, wrote plenty of good posts there. Monetized it using AdSense. Moved to YouTube. Made some tutorials. Turned to Illustration and motion graphics. I kept exploring stuff and kept getting better at it. Did some huge projects for clients like Google. And now I’m working on the next best thing!

I am still learning and exploring. Today I don’t suck! Today I’m not an average Engineer in Mumbai :)

PS: I’ll be writing a post in the future about the things you can do to build yourself while you’re pursuing a degree or doing a job. So hit that follow button!